Tampa – A 50-year-old man shot and wounded an intruder Aug. 24, and that home invader happened to be his nephew.
According to police reports, the 15-year-old boy broke into the Tampa home shortly after 1:30 a.m. The resident, Maya Williams, heard a crash and someone walking around the home and he grabbed a gun.
Williams, who is legally blind, said that he recognized the voice of his nephew, who had cut the power lines to Williams’ home and had broken in through a bedroom window. The teen had armed himself with two knives.
Williams said he believed the teen wanted to retaliate against him for possibly outing him to his family.
“I was like, ‘What are you doing in my house?”” Williams told Bay News 9. “He was like, ‘I come to see you.’ ‘You come to see me, cut the lights out, arm yourself with two knives,’ you know? ‘But you come … what, you gonna serve me tea?’
“I was defending myself.”
Williams told police that he thought his nephew was there to harm him, so he fired the gun to protect himself.
The teen was taken to Tampa General Hospital in serious condition. Officials say his injuries didn’t appear to be life-threatening.
Williams said he doesn’t know why his nephew was in his home but suspects the teen could have been retaliating against something Williams said about him.
